Urbanna Oyster Festival

Let the Good Times Roll!...A Weekend well spent with food, friends and family!!Nestled around the waterways of the Chesapeake, Potomac and Rappahannock River...is a small tidewater town populated by more boats than people.....named Urbanna, VA. Although I was not born and raised in this small town, I have family here and during November the river home becomes host to many family members and friends from afar.Each November, the town of Urbanna throws the country's largest and longest-running Oyster themed--food and wine festivals called the "Urbanna Oyster Festival!" The town's streets are closed to vehicle traffic and become filled with oyster booths, seafood dishes, music and crafts. The festival highlight is the oyster itself and a shucking contest which draws spectators from around the world. The festival is held the first weekend of November each year, from Friday morning to ending Saturday night. For a town a little over 500 people, the annual festival's attendance over the two days is in between 50,000-75,000. During the festival, the town is closed to traffic in the afternoon on Friday and for most of the day Saturday. Admission to the event is free of charge, although there is a fee for parking within the vicinity of the festival.Home to the Oyster Festival for almost sixty years, Urbanna is synonymous with Chesapeake Bay oysters. Food, Wine and Arts n' Crafts...is the name of the game here! The food is provided in many different forms by over fifty vendors. The beloved oyster is always available in ample supply and in a variety of presentations: raw, roasted, fried, smoked, steamed, in fritters or in a stew. There is a plethora of eats to be had! In addition to the oysters, one can enjoy clams, crabs, shrimp, Philly Steak, oriental food, hamburgers, hot dogs, roast beef and other goodies too numerous to mention. Local Virginia Wineries offer up some of the best libation and even though its not my thing the hand made Art n' Crafts sold here invoke lots of great memories of the things my Nanna often crafted and loved. There is definitely a variety of crafts and artwork available for sale throughout the town and within Festival's village. Among the many offerings are handmade furniture, stained glass, antiques, wood carvings, sculpture, pottery, leather goods and jewelry. There is some of everything here at this festival for all ages. Hay Rides, Pony rides, amusement park rides and many outdoor games for the kids. For the adults, young and old....FOOD! Oh and did I say FOOD!?....No let me clarify GREAT INSANE FOOD!I have never been so stuff! This weekend was truly a great one. The perfect mini-vacation with family and friends! I mean....What better way to spend a holiday weekend and getaway from the "hustle n' bustle" of the city!? Come here with a big appetite because the folks native to this town are the most generous, hospitable people and welcome you with open arms! Each home and restaurant visited, we were shoved food in giant proportions. Small town charm and simple living is what you will find here in Urbanna, VA.....and based on the local eats and this festival...they clearly don't care about snobby paleo diets, low-carb desires, obsessive compulsions to the gym or your waist line...as in the city! LOL.

I hate doing this but this needs to told. Went in 2016 with no expectations. After arriving the parking situation was very strange. Although you could've parked closer to the event you see parking as you drive down and you naturally stop. That was my first mistake. They charged $20 to park in the muddy field and then you had to walk over a mile in a poorly constructed path next to a drainage ditch. This would not of been a big deal but I'm toting two kids in the stroller. Did I mention it was $20 to park? Once we made it in the town covered in mud went over to the first tent to eat some oysters. It turned out to be not too bad but very expensive. Correct me if I'm wrong but I think it was $15 or $20 a dozen. Those are city prices. As I later find out the best oysters which are actually cheaper are from the Rappahannock oyster Company which had a tent further into the venue. Went to the blowup area for kids with the bouncy houses. Tickets need to be purchased to go in any of the rides. The people selling the tickets looked like they just woke up on the wrong side of the bed and someone Peed in their Wheaties. Went to the first bounce house paid two dollars for each child and after three minutes the lady was telling them to get out. Each ride or bouncy cost 2 to 3 dollars and was for less than three minutes except the slide which was a dollar each time they slid down.Overall it was a bad experience felt like I got ripped off and had no good memories leaving that beautiful part of the .country. I've been told that all the money goes to the firefighters and the community but who in the heck wants to leave feeling like they just got raked over the coals

I have been going to this festival for years. Always loved it. This year I decided to try the VIP experience. And I talked three friends into joining me. It definitely was a waste of money. To me, the VIP tent should have included wine, oyster and beer tastings so it would have been less walking. We had one person on oxygen and in a motorized scooter. It was not pleasant to navigate through the crowds. We were told we would receivr 6 free oyster tastings. That included one platter from one vendor with fried oysters and French fries. Will never do that again. I could have spent that $100 on a lot of oysters.

The Urbanna Oyster Festival is truly one to catch - especially if you like oysters. They're served raw, fried, steamed, stewed along with a variety of other food and snacks.It's definitely better to attend on Friday if possible to avoid the larger crowds on Saturday.

TL;DR - its nice to go if you never have been but its not a must and not a trip I would repeat as it stands. If you're going for VIP: the beer is the best deal, the wine is second best, and the oysters were the worst deal. If you're going to go, don't go with the VIP option as it stands. Wait and see how it changes over the years first. I took my fiancé to Urbanna for the Oyster Festival for his birthday at the beginning of November. I saw that they had VIP tickets and well who doesn't want to be VIP?! The website honestly wasn't very clear so I assumed there might be more to it. For $100 you get three tasting opportunities total: 6 oysters, 6 beer tastings, and wine. The VIP advertisement lists it as "6 oyster tastings" ... its only 6 oysters total and a shooter. I thought there would be stalls and stalls of oysters. There were only two places to get fresh raw oysters - the first was sort of a part of the wine area (Rappahanock Oyster Company) and the second (I forget the name) was further down by the water. The one down by the water is more expensive (a few bucks more) but honestly it was more tasty. We bought oysters at Rappahanock, got our free oysters at the second by the water, and then even bought more because they were so good. We came back and got more oysters at Rappahanock because we didn't feel like we got our fill but we felt really disappointed that there weren't more variety of oysters in general. Then near the waterfront are the shooters with vodka which were okay. We realized after walking through that there were actually more raw oysters in the restaurants than in the festival... which made paying for VIP seem a little pointless.For the VIP beer tastings - they do have a VIP section so you don't have to wait in line or deal with the crowd and you get 6 tickets to try 6 types of craft beers in a mini pilsner glass (about 4-6 oz pour). When we got there we walked there was a little private section which is separate from the general area to get beer. We walked up to get our samples, I honestly wasn't sure how it worked so I thought the woman serving beer would explain what the deal was and then we'd know how to proceed. She did not do that and then got frustrated that we weren't exactly sure what we wanted. (This was sort of annoying but clearly I survived so no big deal). It didn't seem worth it since we're not big beer drinkers - we had a few and then gave the rest of the tickets away.For the VIP wine tasting - they have a larger area than the beer section. It was supposed to have 6 but I think only had 4-5 wine tents. There is VIP roped off area for to get wine and there is no preference for the VIPs at each of the wine tests. We had to wait forever for each tasting because there are so many people. The wine was tasty and once you were able to squeeze into a tasting it was worth it. On the plus side, you can keep going back for more wine (unlike the beer which you can only get 6 different samples). So we tried to make it worth it and went back for another round. At the end of the day the unlimited element of the wine wasn't worth the wait/our time. So hindsight is 20/20 and I wish I just spent the $20 bucks to park (there is not a general admission fee) and just buy oysters, get wine, avoid the beer (neither of us drink beer really), and get some other food and chill. Instead I felt a little duped that I spent $200 (tickets) and $20 (parking) to get 6 oysters, some wine, 6 small pours of beer, free water (which was irrelevant because I brought water myself), and some semi-private bathrooms. I will say a plus were the bathrooms being a little more available and slightly cleaner - they're all still port-o-potties but with less people using the VIP ones they're not as gross as the mass ones can get. I don't know if its worth $125 extra that I could have saved (and even put towards our airbnb). On a food related note - get the crab balls, they're damn delicious. Also the food all along the festival is quite tasty and good to coat your belly with if you are trying to pack your belly with oysters like we were. Honestly, I also felt like there weren't many VIPs and I felt a little silly and maybe even elitist with the VIP tickets since it wasn't that different and we paid so much money. We might as well be one with the locals and regular visitors of the Urbanna festival and instead invest our money into the local businesses that attend and the restaurants in the town.

You really have to get in on Friday to enjoy the Festival. The fireman's dance Friday night is a great time with the Janitors cleaning UP! The Janitors is the name of the band by the way. During this celebration of the bivalve molluscs, you can find many different ways to consume them. Freshly shucked, roasted, steamed, on a biscuit, in a chowder, deep fried, frittered (is that a word?), you name it. There are really three parts of the festival in my mind. Festival village, main drag and the waterfront. The Festival village is where most of the arts and crafts booths are. Here is where you will find the great booth of redneck belts and belt buckles and t-shirts. Most of the fried food is in this area as well. Fried as in oysters, fresh pork rinds (crazy if you watch them), snickers, etc.The main drag (Virginia St.) includes the firehouse, is lined with food vendors and is also the parade route. Many of the vendors will have oysters, but for those landlubbers, you'll also find the likes of Thai, Chinese, burgers, and other fare.If you walk by the Tobacco Warehouse, you'll get to the waterfront. That is where you will find another band, the US Coast Guard, and a few places to eat more oysters. Do you see a theme here? Yes, that's right, oysters. If you drive, then get there before 5PM on Friday because that's when they shut down the town to vehicular traffic for the parade. Otherwise, you'll have to park in a field just outside of town and hoof it in.

This is a family tradition. My Mom and Dad love the festival. They always have to get a Oyster Fritter and a Softshell Crab Sandwich from the Lion's Club. Plenty of walking to do, so be sure to wear comfortable shoes. Lots of local vendors with arts and crafts to buy. Live music. And don't forget to walk down to the marina and see the boats!We go on Fridays, from about 12-5.. I would either plan to leave before 5 or after 8, as the firetruck parade pretty much shuts the road in and out down between then. I've never been on a Saturday, so no tips there :(My only complaint is it's getting a little too commercial, with the abundance of 'fair food' and the skyrocketing prices. I think I paid $15 for a keepsake refillable mug of rootbeer.. LOL A dinner plate runs about $20. It's very overpriced. I'd recommend either coming loaded, or walking around and exploring the options before deciding where to drop your dough. Also, parking was $10 on Friday and $20 on Saturday, I think. A little steep.

I went in 2014 because my wife asked what I wanted for my birthday, and since I had never been to the Urbanna Oysterfest, we went. We arrived on Friday, since everyone suggests it. We paid $10 to park, $7 for 6 steamed oysters, and $8 for 6 fried oysters, and $10 for 8 crab balls (fried balls of crab dip.) I was expecting to find somewhere at the Oysterfest to pay a set price for all-you-can-eat oysters but instead, was disappointed by oysters priced for out of towners. It was nice to walk around a town I had never been to before, but in the end, it was just another local festival except the food vendors also offered oysters...at a high price. I think people would have a better experience getting 2-3 bushels of oysters, calling over some friends, getting some beer and hot sauce and standing around a grill. I know I will.

Over crowded and cops everywhere just looking to write a ticket. This is def a place for tourist

Go every year -- would not miss it for the world! Arrange your parking situation before hand to avoid high cost parking.